Parvez Henry Gill, 58, has spent a year building one of the world’s largest crosses at the entrance to a Christian cemetery in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. At 14 stories high it is nearly complete.

“I want people to see it and decide to stay here,” said Gill, who says that “every few weeks” he hears about Christians planning to move out of Karachi because of threats.

Some Christians worry that such a massive symbol of their faith will make the cemetery and their community even more vulnerable. Anwar Sardar, the general secretary of the Karachi Christian Cemeteries Board, which gave Gill permission to build the cross on its land, said “security threats are everywhere and anything could happen in this city”.